Friday, November 26, 2010

I shared my appreciation before about the Canadian bands "Fond Of Tigers" and more recently "Inhabitants", both merging the boundaries between rock music and jazz, with the other common factor being trumpet player JP Carter and drummer Skye Brooks, who we find back on this great trio album with Russell Sholberg on bass.

You all know my special fondness of the trumpet trio format, and it works again for me with this band. The trio demonstrates great versatility and bring lots of variation between the pieces, maybe a little bit too much, ranging from straight ahead compositions with theme and boppish rhythmic base to more adventurous sonic or creative explorations. Even though this is the band's first album, it is obvious that they are quite used to play together. Each of the pieces stands well on its own in terms of musical approach, however different it may be from the next. It shows great listening skills and common vision. I find them at their best when they play in full free improv, but some tracks will even be pallatable for mainstream fans. A little more unity might have made it even better. But nice stuff as you can witness yourself in the vid below.